There is no doubt that 2023 will be a big year for video games. With titles like Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy XVI, and Resident Evil Remake 4, there isn’t a month where there isn’t a huge expectation or a great game to try. And among all the games that were expected, Star Wars Jedi Survivor was one of them.
With little time after its release, Jedi Survivor proved to be a great game that lived up to the expectations. But if you are one of those people who haven’t played it yet, there are many things you should know about it and in this article, we will tell you about them..:
Combat Enhancements and Changes
The combat in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was one of the most spectacular and fun things the game had to offer (who doesn’t like wielding a lightsaber?), with certain reminiscences to the Dark Souls saga. Fortunately, everything suggests that the melee combat system will be even deeper and richer in the sequel, apart from adding the requested dismemberment of limbs.
As explained by Stig Asmussen, the game’s director, we will now have up to 5 combat styles or stances to face enemies, who can bring different strengths or weaknesses to each encounter:
- Single sword stance: this is the “basic” stance from the previous game, but combos and animations have been improved. A balanced stance for any situation.
- Dual-hilt sword stance: provides faster attacks by sacrificing range, and can be ideal for very offensive strategies.
- Dual sword stance: the best choice when you have to defeat a large group of enemies with fast movements and good defense.
- Bodyguard stance: this stance looks for the best possible defense, making you slower but increasing the damage of your attacks as well as the range.
- Blaster Stance: Cal combines his Blaster with his saber and Force powers to perform a whole series of ranged moves.
You can tell that Respawn wants to offer a wider range of options and combos for players, mimicking the style of other action titles like Like a Dragon: Ishin. This is always welcome, as it will add an extra layer of complexity to the game and make us analyze each enemy in detail to discover their vulnerabilities.
New Force powers and Jedi abilities
In the novelties, in terms of gameplay for the action, we must not forget the Jedi powers and abilities either. A very juicy point about this is that Cal is going to keep all the unlocked abilities from the first game from the first minute because now he is no longer a young inexperienced padawan. But, he is not yet a Jedi knight either, so logically he still has a long way to go and in this installment, he will be able to show off new powers.
Those responsible have explained that Cal’s Force is now more powerful, so old powers such as his thrust will be more intense and will affect more enemies, while there will be other new powers such as stasis, which will freeze the time around us, or new ways to grab enemies and use their own weapons against them.
On the other hand, in Jedi Survivor players will have a total of nine skill trees; five dedicated to combat, one to survival, and three to the powers of the Force. Each player will be able to decide which branch of skills he/she prefers to enhance, and even, when the time comes, reset all the points invested in reorganizing our character’s style and trying other approaches.
Improved exploration with larger worlds
As we’ve been pointing out, Jedi Survivor is a sequel that ups the scale of its predecessor and, as such, Respawn has ensured that this installment will place much more emphasis on exploration and player movement through its huge dense worlds. For example, BD-1 will now be able to place custom markers on maps. Some of the inclusions to improve movement have to do with the new kind of hook or rope that Cal will be able to use to propel himself towards distant terrain, which will improve the verticality of the scenarios as well as their platforming.
Also, another new functionality will be the ability to tame both terrestrial and flying creatures to use them as mounts in our travels from point A to point B. In addition, this time, the game will have unlockable fast travel points to speed up the journeys even more. And thanks to the speed of the new generation SSD hard disks, these will have very short loading times.
For now, as seen in videos and promotional material, we can expect to revisit mythical planets of the saga as Coruscant, including other new features such as Koboh (a completely new planet characterized by cliffs and many dangers) and the rumored ancient planet Jedha, of which there are suspicions of its presence in this installment.
Meditation chambers
One of the playable additions of Jedi Survivor that have most caught the attention of the community is the so-called Jedi meditation chambers, a kind of optional dungeons that we can find in numerous places of the galaxy and that come to propose a challenge that can remind us of those seen in the sanctuaries of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
In other words, in these chambers players will have to use their wits to solve puzzles and puzzles with their skills. In this way, we will be able to advance along the chambers and reach their final rewards, which will be prizes in the form of special bonuses for Cal’s combat and more.
Old friends and new allies
Cal made quite a few friends in the previous game, such as Cere Junda, Greez Dritus, or his inseparable companion BD-1 (not to mention Merrin, the Sister of the Night who had fallen to the Dark Side), and in this sequel, we will have them back along with new faces. Bode Akunam, for example, is a mercenary gunslinger in the purest Han Solo style who will join Cal’s journey in this sequel and who his director has described as “a brother” to Cal.
In addition, it is known that now the companions will become more relevant in the gameplay, being able to fight at our side and even having a button dedicated to a powerful combo attack to make their integration into the game more dynamic. That is, they will no longer be relegated to the background of the action and will be able to interact with us outside of specific scenes and dialogues.
For their part, villains, and enemies are also a point to highlight. In Star Wars, there are many and the previews of Jedi Survivor suggest that the High Republic will be the main antagonist in this story. While not too much of this part of the game has been revealed, we have seen bounty hunter Rayvis meddling in Cal’s affairs. Rayvis is a mercenary belonging to the exotic Gen’dai species, nomadic beings that can regenerate their bodies, withstand multiple wounds and even live for more than four thousand years.
Among others, there will be a huge variety of hostile enemies: soldiers, droidekas, mercenaries, and separatist droids… And we can expect spectacular boss battles as in the predecessor. Battles against a Wampa or a fearsome Rancor, to name a couple, have already been hinted at.
That’s all you need to know about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Are you ready to try this great adventure? Tell us in the comments!
